text:
You need to read this HostPapa review to know about an American and Canadian web hosting company – on the American side in Niagara Falls and on the Canadian side in Toronto. HostPapa is ideal for small businesses or for individuals who are interested in having a web site on the Internet for reasons that vary from person to person.
The motto ("Let Papa Take Care of You") is a good one to begin with – that is, it's a good first impression for those who do need some taking care of when they first contemplate their own website.
Create Beautiful Websites
The features available at HostPapa make sure that you can create a beautiful site even if you are a beginner, but you don't have to be a beginner to get one online in as little time as possible. The company is going to put you online with the promises of a g company. Yes, HostPapa is one of the first web hosting companies that have gone Green.
What does this mean? I mean that the company is buying energy certificates from wind and solar power companies to offset the use of energy used by the company.
Go Green with your Hosting
There are a growing number of green hosting companies. Going Green has made HostPapa a company that assumes a responsibility for caring for the earth and its resources, but this has not meant any sort of setback for you, the potential customer. What you do, though, if you create and host your website with HostPapa is participate in this ecologically sensible enterprise while at the same time assure yourself of the ways and means of a truly impressive website.
Save Money
You can host your site for just $3.95 a month (the regular price is $7.95 a month). Whenever you sign on for a yearly plan, you also get a domain name free of charge. If you have a domain name registered already, you may transfer it or get it updated – still without any additional charges. To save as much money as possible, you may wish to sign on for two or even three years at a time. The question is, what all do you get with HostPapa when you do sign on?
Unlimited Hosting
One of the drawbacks with some web hosting companies is the disk space or bandwidth that they make available to you. Well, you don't need to concern yourself about this with when you go with HostPapa, as here you have unlimited disk space or bandwidth at no additional cost to you. So right off the bat you know that whatever you wish to put on your website, you are going to be able to do it without worrying about running into limitations of any sort.
Get that SEO Rolling
An additional benefit you get is the ability to get your website search engine optimized. This is of particular important for any small online business. If you are selling a service or a product, you obviously need to bring traffic to your website. Without visitors, there is nothing that can possibly happen.
But how would people know about your site to begin with? Here is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture. People find sites by using a search engine – if your site is properly optimized, people are going to find it. Once there, it's up to the site to make them stay and/or buy. But there, HostPapa is of special value to you as well.
Speed is Essential
A site that loads quickly and – once loaded – looks inviting is a site that's going to get people to stay once they have landed on it. This is good for business should your site be a business site. But even if you are only trying to share your ideas with family and friends – or your pictures or whatever, the fact is that people coming to your site are going to be happy they landed there. And that's a good thing.
Close to 100% Uptime
HostPapa is reliable – this means that when you have your site hosted by this company, you are guaranteed to be online just about 100% of the time. Up-time is crucial for any website. If it's not online 24/7, people would get error messages when they tried to get to the site and this is a massive turn-off, especially for would-be customers.
When you host with HostPapa, you are treated like a valuable member of the family. Client support is also available 24/7 – which means that if you need help with something, you can always be sure that help is just clicks or a phone call away. You may get answers to your questions by means of e-mail as well.
So whether you are a novice or an experienced webmaster, HostPapa is your way to the Internet. These days anybody who is anybody should have a presence on the Internet – and that presence should be a reliable and an impressive one.
You Will Be Taken Care Of
Once you sign on with HostPapa, the website is going to assist you from the first steps to the last – from getting your domain name or transferring it, to uploading your web pages. It's all a smooth and easy operation, so don't hesitate to check out HostPapa for yourself.


text:
Falling oil prices dent Hugo Chávez's clout
| Mexico City
Sixteen months ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez visited Nicaragua to lay the ceremonial cornerstone to a new $3.9 billion oil refinery to help "liberate" Nicaragua from poverty.
Today, the cornerstone, outside the city of León, sits among weeds. And with the price of oil 55 percent less than its peak in July, many Nicaraguans are starting to wonder if it will ever amount to more than a mere brick. "Countries like Nicaragua will no longer receive the largess that [Mr. Chávez] promised, including the oil refinery," says Nicaraguan lawmaker Francisco Aguirre.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to announce this week that it is cutting oil output to help lift crude prices. Of the dozen countries in the oil cartel – who all have benefited greatly from the high prices of the past few years – few have spread their largess to political friends as much as Chávez.
With crude reaching $145 a barrel this year, the leftist leader has been able to pour billions into social programs at home and lavish the rest abroad, sending subsidized oil from Nicaragua to New York – including up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba, discounted by as much as 40 percent – and making pledges to invest in infrastructure, refineries, and agricultural programs everywhere in between.
Now that lower prices are a new norm, at $71.85 a barrel Friday, the clout such largess has earned him could begin to wane. Commodities prices overall are slipping, generating new concern in a region heavily vested in exports of soy, copper, and crude. But it is Chávez who could stand the most to lose: a new report from Deutsche Bank says that Venezuela needs prices to stay at $95 a barrel in order to balance its budget.
Coupled with production declines, Chávez's days as the ultimate benefactor could be coming to a close.
"In terms of revenue and oil dependence, Venezuela is by far the most vulnerable," says Ramon Espinasa, a former chief economist at Venezuela's state-company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and today an energy adviser for the Inter-American Development Bank. "It's not just prices falling but volumes are down, which compounds the drop in revenue. That's scary."
Oil income represents more than half of Venezuela's federal budget and more than 90 percent of export earnings.
With oil wealth, Chávez has poured billions into his social "missions," which provide services such as healthcare and literacy programs for the poor.
Spending on social programs, according to government figures, has increased from 8.2 percent of gross domestic product in 1998 to 13.6 percent in 2006.
PDVSA contributed another $13 billion in 2006, or another 7.3 percent of GDP.
Domestic spending is likely to remain stable for now, but Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution" abroad – via subsistence programs like Petrocaribe and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) – would probably be retooled, says RoseAnne Franco, lead analyst at PFC Energy in Washington.
Chávez sends 300,000 barrels of oil daily at subsidized rates to needy countries in the region.
Heating oil in the US and cut-rate fuel for London's buses have also been gifted.
Recently, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, who signed onto Petrocaribe and more recently ALBA, says that Chávez pledged $300 million a year for agriculture and other programs.
"Any investments in countries like Ecuador and Nicaragua, or helping the Bolivian oil company, it's likely you won't see those move forward," says Ms. Franco. "If [Chávez] is under pressure [his government] will focus on the domestic."
Of all OPEC countries, it is Venezuela that is most vulnerable in the face of lower oil prices, says Franco.
That is because Venezuela so heavily relies on imports, including for most of its food needs.
PFC Energy published a report earlier this year saying that for 2008 oil had to stay at $94 a barrel and at $97 next year for Venezuela to finance the imports of goods and services, one macroeconomic indicator.
Chávez has maintained that the Venezuelan government is in good shape, and the government has denied rumors that a currency devaluation and increased taxes or tax hikes loom.
"Many people want oil to keep falling so they can see us fall, but Venezuela won't sink," Chávez recently told a state-run media outlet.
Venezuela has $39 billion in foreign reserves. (The Venezuelan government also has money in a "rainy day" fund, which PFC Energy estimates is another $14 billion.)
But some in Caracas express concern. "I am worried about the political and social problems it will bring," says Alejandro Ovalles, an orange juice vendor in downtown Caracas. "We all depend on oil."
Production in Venezuela has slipped, too, from 3.1 million barrels a day in 1999 to 2.6 million barrels daily last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
And Chávez spends the money just as quickly as he earns it, says Ian Vásquez, director of the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. "When you have an economic situation that depends on wealth distribution rather than wealth creation you expose yourself to being in a very precarious situation," he says.
For now, no one expects any immediate shock. "Right now, [with oil prices at $70], nothing happens. Below $65, that could change. But in the short term, there's no effect," says Luis Pedro Espana, director of Project on Poverty and an economics professor at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. "Part of the bonanza is in state banks and in international reserves. The government would not feel a recession in the short term."
If the situation does turn into a long-term readjustment for Venezuela, Mr. Espinasa says it could be a political blow. But the impact will be one of perception rather than real pullback, he says, adding that much of what Chávez has pledged has amounted to no more than promises.
That is a sentiment expressed in Nicaragua. "It's hard to say what impact a reduction in aid could cost the economy," says Mr. Aguirre, the president of Nicaragua's congressional budget commission. "For starters, we never knew how much aid Nicaragua received from Venezuela or what it was used for."
• Tim Rogers contributed from Nicaragua and José Orozco from Venezuela.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Let's open our Bibles tonight and look together to the 15th chapter of Romans, Romans chapter 15. And I want us to look at verses 7 through 13 which really are the closing of the main argument of this epistle. From chapter 15, verse 14 to the end of chapter 16 is like a postscript. Some additional things are added. The major argument really comes to its climax here in the passage before us.
Now let me just review briefly since we are going to come to some kind of a conclusion tonight, that you'll remember in chapter 1 of Romans, beginning at verse 1 and running through verse 17, Paul broke open chapter 1 by giving a preview of what he was going to talk about. He introduces it, in fact, in verse 1 when he refers to the gospel of God, the gospel which was promised, the gospel which was concerning His Son Jesus Christ, the gospel, verse 5, which he had received, the gospel to which you were called, verse 6 and 7; that gospel, the gospel he says that he is debtor, verse 14, to preach; that he is ready, verse 15, to preach; the gospel of which he is not ashamed, verse 16; and the gospel in summary, verse 17, which is the just shall live by faith. So, in the opening 17 verses of chapter 1, he introduces his theme which is the gospel, the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
The unfolding of that gospel then begins in chapter 1 verse 18 and the first section, 1:18 to 3:20, discusses sin. The first word of the gospel is the bad news that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Then in chapter 3, verse 21 clear to the end of chapter 11, chapter 11, verse 36, all of that is about salvation from sin in all of its richness and all of its implications. Then beginning in chapter 12, verse 1 and running to chapter 15, verse 13, the practical out-working of that inward salvation. And we're in the section now then on practical Christian living in response to the saving work of Christ.
Now in this section on practical Christian living, we have talked about the Christian's focus on the Lord, chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, our relation to the Lord as Christians; chapter 12 verses 3 to 8, our relation to other believers in terms of using our spiritual gifts; chapter 12 verse 9 to 21, our relation to everybody and he sums up all kinds of relationships there; chapter 13 verses 1 through 7, our relation to the government; chapter 13:8 to 10, the primacy of love; and then chapter 13:11 to 14, the importance of time, the importance of time. He says the night is far spent, the day is at hand. So, we're to have then a cultivated proper relationship to God, to other believers, to everybody, to the government. It is to be permeated with love and it is to be done immediately because the time is far spent.
Then in chapter 14 we saw, beginning at verse 1 and running all the way to verse 13 of chapter 15, he discusses the relationship of strong and weak Christians. And with that he sums up his discussion of salvation and its implications.
Now in this lengthy section to which we look again, chapter 14:1 to 15:13, he gives four principles to govern the relationships between strong and weak Christians. Number one is to receive one another with understanding, chapter 14 verses 1 to 12, to receive one another with understanding. Number two: Build up one another without offending. Build up one another without offending, chapter 14 verse 13 through 23. Then the third principle for relations between strong and weak is to please one another with Christ as our example, that in chapter 15:1 through 7. And then overlapping verse 7, the final section, rejoice with one another in the plan of God, verses 7 through 13. Now that gives you just a brief overview of the book.
We come then...then to the final section of the final issue before a postscript closes off this great epistle. And in finally discussing the relation of strong and weak believers, he says we ought to rejoice with one another in the plan of God. In other words, it ought to be the concern of all believers not to struggle with each other, not to have division, not to have chaos, not to have hassles with each other, but to accept each other, to embrace each other because this is the plan of God.
And we should rejoice that it includes all of us. And again, this final section, verses 7 to 13, emphasizes the intended character of the church, that it is all of us being one in Jesus Christ, whether we're weak or strong, whether we're Jew or Gentile, we are all to be loved and accepted and embraced as one in Christ.
Let me read you verses 7 to 13 so you'll have it in your mind. Then we'll look at it. "Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, for this cause I will confess to thee among the nations and sing unto Thy name. And again he saith, rejoice ye nations with His people, and again, praise the Lord all ye nations and laud Him all ye peoples. And again Isaiah saith, there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the nations in Him shall the nations trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."
Now this final call for unity among weak and strong, this call for rejoicing together — you'll notice that emphasis here, verse 10 rejoice, verse 11 praise the Lord — this emphasis on praise and rejoicing because of the blending together of Jew and Gentile sums up Paul's argument regarding the weak and the strong. In order for us to look at it with understanding, I want us to see three features: the basic instruction, the biblical illustrations and what I'll call for the sake of alliteration, the benedictory intercession.
Now before we look at them in specifics, just a general perspective. The call of this passage is a call for rejoicing that God in His saving plan has brought all of us together, Jew and Gentile, weak and strong, and made us one body in Christ.
Paul is no longer exhorting here in a negative way as he had earlier in this portion when he was calling us not to offend, or not cause some to gr...someone to grieve, or not cause someone to stumble. He's no longer speaking of negatives but positively calling for us to rejoice in what God has done in making us one.
Now this is the positive aspect of unity. To have unity in the church we have to avoid certain things, make sure we don't cause someone to stumble or be grieved, or to be led into sin, or to be caused to be discouraged or distressed or to go against their conscience and therefore feel guilt and so forth and so on. But apart from just avoiding the negative, we are called to a positive attitude of rejoicing. And that's such an essential thing. Sometimes when there's conflict in the church, when there's argument and when there's bitterness between people, the key to overcoming that is not to not have that attitude, but to cultivate an attitude of joy, rejoicing and praise.
Now remember, the strong. in view here, the strong are those who have the faith. Now I want you to listen to this cause it's the key to the whole passage. The strong are those who have the faith to accept their freedom from the Old Testament ceremonial law and ritual. The strong believers are those who have no concern about Sabbath days, about feasts and festivals, and new moons and dietary laws, and all the external trappings of the old ceremony. They are free from that. They realize it. They believe it so they don't worry about it. They're not hung up on old religious taboos and institutions of a prior economy.
Now frankly, for the most part, you must understand this, these would be Gentiles. Did you get that? For the most part, these would be the pagans who never did have any orientation to the Old Testament law. It would be very easy for them not to have that problem. They were never subscribed in their own minds to the Old Testament ritual and law and ceremony and practice. So for them that really was no problem at all. And so, when the text identifies the strong, it has primarily, though not exclusively, because there could be a strong Jew who got to the place where he understood his liberation, but primarily it has to do with the Gentile believers.
On the other hand, the weak are those who do not feel in their own mind the freedom from Old Testament ceremony. They're still observing the Sabbath. They're still trying to keep the external laws and rituals. They're still concerned about dietary practices and new moons and feast days and all of that, and they do not believe they are free to ignore those things. So they are weak in the sense that they are weak in faith to accept their freedom. The Scripture reveals that freedom. The apostles have articulated that freedom. But they can't quite come to believing that. And they would be generally identified with the Jews, though there might also be some Gentiles who were still holding on to some things that bound their conscience from their foreman...former pagan religion.
But for the most part, and you see this in this passage, it is a Gentile equals strong issue, and a Jew equals weak issue in the church in Rome. And the conflict came because the liberated Gentiles were wanting to exercise all of their freedoms and the Jews were wanting to confine everybody to Old Testament ceremony.
Now the strong were right, they did have those freedoms. The weak were wrong but Paul calls for loving understanding until the weak can be brought to the place where they have the faith to believe they're free as the others do. No conflict should exist between the two, but rather, Jew and Gentile, weak and strong, as I said, mostly identifying the Jew and Gentile conflict, were to be mutually rejoicing over each other and patiently, lovingly bringing each other along in unity.
Now let's look at the basic instruction, first of all, the basic instruction. It's a very simple passage. I know when I read it, a few of you had blank looks on your face because it doesn't seem to go anywhere in particular, but you'll see. The basic instruction is in verse 7, "Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God." Now that's the basic instruction. Wherefore, or therefore, takes us from verse 6. Since God's desire is that one with one mind and one mouth we should glorify God, wherefore we have to receive one another. Since God wants us to be one, since that's the eternal design of the church, in order for us to be one mind, that's internally, one mouth, that's externally united we have to receive one another. Now that doesn't mean receiving people into church membership by writing their name on a list. That means receiving them into affection, receiving them into fellowship. It's the same verb used in chapter 14 verse 1, where almost the same point is made, "Him that is weak in faith, receive." Receive. Open your arms, embrace. It's calling to communion, to mutual love. The strong receive the weak, the weak receive the strong, the Jew receives the Gentile, the Gentile receives the Jew. And as we shall see, verse 7 is vital because Jesus is the example of what it means to receive. And we'll see that in a moment.
But first, let's note that the word "to receive" is an intense word. It is not just the simple word "to receive," but it is the word "to receive" with a strong preposition added to it which intensifies the word. It is a word which means to receive by pulling something very close to yourself. Let me illustrate it to you. Get your Bible now, handy, and let's look at Mark for a moment, chapter 8 verse 32, I want to show you several scriptures very fast. And in verse 32 of Mark 8, it says, "And He spoke that saying openly," that is the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the saying about being rejected and killed and after three days rising from the dead, noted in verse 31, Jesus spoke that, "And Peter..." And here comes the word. "And Peter received," or literally here, took Him "and began to rebuke Him." Now this is classic Peter who pulls Jesus aside and starts to rebuke Him.
But the point you want to note is that the use of the word, and this is far and away its primary use, in fact, in a sense its exclusive use. The only other three other times, and I'll show you, it is used of eating. And I think maybe I'll take the moment I need to show you that. But its primary use and almost exclusive use is of pulling someone in intimately. In this case, it's Peter getting Jesus away from everybody else and pulling Him up to himself and then with unbelievable gall, rebuking Him. But the point is it's to pull Him aside.
In Acts 17 I want you to see the term again, because again this will enrich your understanding of it. In Acts 17 the Jews who did not believe, of course Paul is preaching in Thessalonica here, and the Jews who did not believe, moved with envy, and here comes the word again, took to themselves certain vile fellows of the worst kind. And what they did was get them to start a riot.
And again the idea is that they pulled them apart from the crowd, pulled them to themselves in intimacy and said to them the things they wanted to say. It's pulling someone very close for some kind of private conversation.
Chapter 18 of the book of Acts, again we see the same word, verse 26. And he began, this is Apollos, a great preacher of the Old Testament, eloquent in the Scriptures, mighty in the Scriptures it says in verse 24. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, did Apollos, whom when Aquila and Priscilla heard, they took him unto them. And here's the same kind of an idea with this word again. They pulled Apollos away from the crowd, away from the synagogue, away from the ministry into private counsel and explained to him the way of God more perfectly. And again I want you to note that this word means to pull someone very close for some very private counsel.
Then, as I mentioned earlier, in the 27th chapter of Acts, and you don't need to turn to that, three times it is used of taking food in. Again, a very intimate kind of receiving. The term used for literally taking in food. Then in chapter 28 of Acts and verse 2, you have another use of the word, and Paul has escaped from the shipwreck and they've landed on Malta, it's called Melita, the island of Malta. They land on this island and the barbarous people, pagan people "showed us no little kindness for they kindled a fire and received us, every one, because of the present rain and because of the cold."
In other words, they took them in with hospitality, brought them into a place of warmth and there was a fire prepared for them and so forth. And so it is a receiving of some intimacy.
In the little letter, the beautiful little letter that we come to know as Philemon, I want you to notice the word is used twice.
In verse 12, receive him. Paul calls to Philemon and says receive Onesimus, the servant, when he comes back. And then again in verse 17, if you count me as a partner, receive him as myself.
Now those are the uses of this wonderful word. It is a rich and wonderful term that means to take to your heart, to give access to you in a very personal way. And that is precisely what Romans 15 intends to say. Back to verse 7, "Wherefore, take intimately to yourself one another." "Take intimately to yourself one another." That's a wonderful, wonderful command. The implications of it are especially wonderful if you understand this particular text. Let me read it to you and see if it doesn't grip your heart. Matthew 10:40, "He that receives you (What's the rest of it?) receives Me. And he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me." Isn't that wonderful? When you receive another believer, you receive Christ. And in receiving Christ, you receive the one who sent Christ, even God the Father.
So, receiving your brother in Christ, though he differs from you in lifestyle, though he may not have the same liberty that you enjoy, though he may be different in some of the things he believes, and this is not an issue of doctrine, this is in spite of what they might believe, receive them intimately in love.
This was not easy in the...in the Roman assembly. It wasn't easy for the Gentiles who were liberated, who didn't have any of the hold-over from the Old Testament law, It wasn't easy for them to accept a Gentile...or rather a Jew. It wasn't easy for a Gentile who had no taboos held over from the old covenant to just open his arms for this legalistic, duty-bound Jew who was still hung up on all kinds of old traditions that he tended to look down on him and say, "Why can't you accept your freedom? And why can't you grow up?"
On the other hand, the weak Jew who was bound by the law had a very difficult time, the ceremonial law, had a very difficult time accepting a liberated Gentile. He had enough trouble accepting a Gentile, period. It was a very difficult thing for him to conceive of God allowing a new, inclusive brotherhood of Gentiles on equal terms with Christ with Jews, very difficult.
Particularly when these Gentiles had no regard for Old Testament ceremony, no regard for the Sabbath, no regard for the dietary laws, no regard for any of those traditions. They appeared to be guilty of abusive license. To the Gentiles, the Jews appeared to be guilty of a lack of trust and a lack of faith, and so the potential for conflict was very great. But they both needed to understand the principle of verse 7, and that is to take into personal intimacy each other, accepting them the way they are.
You see, what we've been saying all along is one of the most devastating things that happens in the church is when people set up criteria by which they will receive each other. And if you don't meet that criteria, you're shut out. That's devastating in the church. We need to see what the meaning of this whole passage is and receive each other.
Now let's talk a little more about that as we look at the next part of verse 7. "Receive one another as Christ also received us." Now that's our pattern. You want to know what it means to receive one another? Here we're going to find out. He is our pattern. When He said in Matthew 11, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me," He was telling us that we ought to not only learn of His gospel, but learn of His character and learn of His approach to things. He is our model. In Ephesians 5 it gets very specific, actually at the end of chapter 4. It says, verse 32, "Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor."
Be tender-hearted, be kind, be forgiving, be loving, be sacrificial to each other, just like Christ has been to us. He received you, didn't He? Were you worthy of it? Did He receive you because you were so wonderful? Did He look all around the world and say, "John MacArthur, you're irresistible? I just want to take you in because you're so attractive." Not at all. He received us. Luke 15:2 says, "He was condemned as one who receives sinners." I love that. They said He receiveth sinners.
Now if Christ has received us unlovely, sinful when we hated Him, when we hated God, when we were deep in our sin, if He did not refuse to love us, if He did not refuse to embrace us, if He did not refuse to forgive us, to call us His friends, to call us His children, to call us His brothers, to enter into an eternal fellowship with us, to live within us, to empower us, to call us to assist Him in the development of His kingdom, if He did not refuse to do that, but rather received us, shall we not receive each other?
Now listen carefully. When a Christian refuses to receive into his heart another Christian, he is saying, in effect, I know Christ receives the worst of sinners, but I require more, I have a higher standard. Are you more holy than He is? Can He be friends with people not worthy of your friendship? Can He receive people that are just not good enough for you and me?
Blasphemous thought, is it not? So, put it in perspective, folks. For those in the body of Christ to refuse to open their hearts in love to each other is to say, I know that Christ does that, but He doesn't understand my standards. Blasphemous thought, blasphemous thought. He's our pattern.
Now he's not telling us, Paul is not telling us that there is some real equality in the qualitative essence of these two compared things, that is, us and Christ, for no human sacrifice to receive another person can even come close to the sacrifice of Christ who received sinners. But the illustration still stands.
As He received those who were unworthy, so we must receive each other. He receives us, we receive others. Put it in perspective. Your failure to open your heart to some other believer because you resent something about them is an effrontery to the Christ who received you. And if we place restraints on our love to each other, we are violating the principle taught in the passage and we are violating the example of redemptive action in the person of Christ Himself.
Furthermore, the reason is given why He did it. Verse 7, He received us for what reason? What's the reason? To the glory of God. To the glory of God. And that's the same reason for which we are to receive each other. We do it because God is glorified when we do it, because it reflects the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts, because it is His expressed will. It brings Him praise. My prayer for the church is that we might know this kind of attitude. I hear all the time, and so do you, all kinds of little squabbles among Christians. People set off against other people, people condemning other people, not only within a local church but among churches and among those who name the name of Christ who want to fight and pick and poke at each other and grieve and wound each other, rather than with open arms to receive each other, understanding that there will be differences in our understanding of Christian freedom, but that is not a cause for division.
I am reminded of Matthew 10:24 when I think about the fact that Christ set the example. Do you remember what it said? The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. You remember that? The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord, Matthew 10:24. And if Christ received sinners, then we ought to receive each other.
Now specifically, let's ask a question: how did Christ receive sinners? Or better, how does He? Let me give you four answers to that. First of all, and you might want to jot these down, I think you'll find them helpful. First of all, Christ receives men gladly. That's basic. He receives men gladly. It is not with reluctance, but gladly.
Look for a moment at Luke chapter 15, and let's just see a brief illustration of this in Luke 15. I mentioned verse 2, but let's flow on beyond that a bit. "Then, drew near unto Him all the tax collectors and sinners to hear Him." Wonderful congregation to preach to, any preacher's dream. "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured and said, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." What a commendation, huh? They thought it was a condemnation, but it was a commendation. "And He spoke this parable unto them saying, what man of you, having a hundred sheep if he lose one of them doesn't leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." And you can underline that word "rejoicing." "And when he cometh home he called together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents more than over ninety and nine righteous persons who need no repentance," self-righteous people.
No, the point is, when a sinner comes and the Savior receives a sinner, he is received gladly, gladly. Not reluctantly. We're not storming the gates of heaven pleading to be received. We're not begging God to receive us. He does it eagerly. He cries out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto you, how oft I would have gathered a he...gathered you as a hen gathereth her brood, but you would not." How many times I wanted to take you and receive you but you refused. And we hear Him say, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." And He cries out for those who will come. He says, "If any man thirst, let him come and take of the water of life freely." And He says, "I am the light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness." He cries out, "You will not come to Me that you might have life." And even on the cross He says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." No, Jesus receives people gladly. He receives the sinner gladly. It isn't with reluctance, it isn't condescension. It is that for which He came and with outstretched arms He embraces the sinner who comes to Him. He says in John 6, "Him that cometh unto Me I will under no circumstances cast out."
So, our fellowship should be the same. When we receive one another it should be with gladness, not with condescension, not with reluctance. I remember when I was in the south in Mendenhall, Mississippi, a pastor of a church there, white fellow, opened his heart to teach the Bible to a black man. And I remember driving by the church and seeing the sign, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." This was the sign in front of the church. A black man came who was heavy laden and who was laboring and who needed help. And this pastor began to disciple this black man and the church told him to stop because he was creating a racial problem.
And the pastor continued to do it and so he couldn't buy gas at the gas station, groceries in the grocery store, cancelled his insurance policy, they harassed his children. This is at the church that says, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." And finally he had a total nervous breakdown, they put him in a hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. And the second day he dove out of the third floor and killed himself. I was extreme trauma. I don't know all of the dynamics that made him take his life. I can't know what built up all of that. And I do not commend what he did, obviously. It's a tragedy of tragedies, but it's illustrative of the fact that we can have a theology and can even hold it out as if it's the identifying mark of our fellowship, and in our hearts be living something in the exact opposite realm. We are to receive one another, not reluctantly, not condescendingly, but with gladness, with gladness.
Secondly, Christ not only receives sinners with gladness but he receives sinners in spite of their sin. He receives them in spite of their sin. They don't have to clean up their act first. God doesn't say, "Look, if you can get your life cleaned up I'll take you." No, that's heresy. Not for a minute do we believe that there are some pre-salvation works which man can do for himself to make him recep...receivable, if you will, to make him acceptable to Christ. He receives sinners in spite of their sin. That's the beauty of grace, that's the wonder of Christ's attitude. Go back to Matthew and back to the house, many tax collectors, many sinners sitting down and Jesus is there. The Pharisees say, "Why is your master eating with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus says, the ones that are well don't need a physician, but they that are sick. (That's sarcasm. These men know they're sick.) Go and learn what that means, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." He came for those who were sinners.
He receives them in spite of their sin, not because they clean their act up.
In Mark 2 we find Him again in the parallel passage with the same thing, it's repeated there. We find the same kind of thing in Luke 5, Luke 6, Luke 7, Luke 18, as the publican and the sinner...the publican and the Pharisee are in the temple praying and the Pharisee thinks everything is right and he says, "I thank God that I'm not as other men. I fast and I tithe and I do everything I'm supposed to do." The sinner's pounding on his breast, won't even look up to God, and he says, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." Now who has God received in Luke 18? Does He receive the Pharisee who thought his life was right, who prayed all the time and fasted all the time and gave his tithe all the time, or does He receive the sinner pounding on his breast?
Well, Jesus said the sinner went home justified rather than the other. He receives sinners in spite of their sin, though they're sin-stained and depraved and despairing of righteousness and helpless and ignorant and guilty and vile, when they come they are received. And that's what Paul said in Romans 5:8, that while we were yet sinners, God commended His love toward us.
That's what Paul meant in his own testimony, 1 Timothy 1, when he said Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost. So He drew Himself to sinners to change their sins, to change their imperfections, to make them, that is, to make us, like Him. So, Christ receives sinners in spite of their sin and He receives them gladly.
May I add another sort of side point? Thirdly, He receives sinners impartially. He receives sinners impartially. The Bible tells us in Acts 10:35, in Romans 2:11 that God is no respecter of what? Of persons. It does not matter to God whether you're Jew, Gentile, male, female, bond or free, doesn't matter to God what your background is, doesn't matter to God anything, He receives people impartially. And He calls for that same thing in James chapter 2 verse 1, "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." Don't let your Christianity have respect of persons. "If there comes a man into your assembly with a gold ring and fine apparel and a man comes in in a filthy garment, a poor man, and you have respect to the one that wears the fine clothing and say, sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, Out of the way, fellow, get under the footstool, are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats, do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which you are called? If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin and are convicted of the sin...convicted of the law as transgressors."
It is a serious transgression to have respect of persons.
No place for that in the church. Christ sets the example in John 6:37, again, "Him that comes unto Me, I will not cast out." So, He receives sinners gladly, He receives them in spite of their sin, He receives them impartially, and finally, and now we come to our text again, finally, He receives them for the highest reason. And that reason is the glory of God. That's the reason He receives sinners, so that it will be to the glory of God. You see, God is glorified when a sinner is saved, is that right? Of course it is. God is glorified when a sinner is saved. Ephesians 1:4, "He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will (Listen to this.) to the praise of the glory of His grace." The reason He saved you was for His own glory, that He might demonstrate His own glory, that He might manifest His own glory, that He might show the principalities and powers, that He might show the angelic host, that He might demonstrate to all beings created His glory. In Ephesians 3:10, His intent is to show the principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, and He does that by showing the salvation of the church.
So, everything that is done, doesn't it, ultimately resolves itself in God's glory. His sovereign electing grace, His predestination, His will, His grace, His shed blood, His saving work is all for His glory. So, Christ received sinners gladly in spite of their sin, in spite of their imperfections. He receives them impartially and receives them for the highest reason. Now that's our model. Our model then for receiving one another is to do it gladly, is to do it in spite of their imperfections, is to do it without impartiality, and to do it so that God can be glorified in the unity of His church. Now you understand verse 7, the basic instruction.
Let's look at the biblical illustrations, and these just briefly. He illustrates this point of Jew and Gentile being one in Christ by choosing four Old Testament prophecies that verify Gentile salvation. Did you get that? Four Old Testament prophecies that verify Gentile salvation. They show that the coming Messiah would receive the nations of the world into salvation as partakers of the covenant of grace. And these verses should soften Jewish prejudice in the church at Rome and anywhere else, they should call the Jews to rejoice over Gentile salvation as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy rather than allow Gentile salvation to create division and dissension.
Now I can't really get into this passage without first saying that this is primarily a theme throughout the whole Roman epistle. The whole Roman epistle is somewhat preoccupied with the Jew and the Gentile issue. Let's run through it fast. Go back to chapter 1. Let me just show this to you in about one minute. Romans chapter 1, we notice that the gospel comes in Romans chapter 1, verse 5, for obedience to the faith among all nations. So Paul lets us know in the very beginning where this gospel is going to go, it's going to go to all nations. Verse 14: "I am debtor both to the Gentiles and to the barbarians, to the wise and the unwise." And back in verse 13 he wants to have some fruit among other Gentiles. Verse 16, "It is the power of God (The gospel is.) unto salvation to everyone that believes, the Jew first, but also to the Gentile." So, the whole epistle is really filled, fraught with this theme of Gentile conversion.
In chapter 2 he talks about in verse 14 the Gentiles who have not the written law, but by nature do the things contained in the law. These having not the law are a law unto themselves and they show the work of the law written in their hearts. So God has even given the Gentiles the law in the heart. God through Paul condemns the Jews in verse 24 because their conduct caused the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles whom God sought the Jews to evangelize. Instead of reaching the Gentiles with the truth, they were reaching the Gentiles with a blasphemous counterfeit of the truth and God was dishonored.
Chapter 3, we also find in verse 19 that every mouth in the world is stopped and all the whole world is guilty before God, both Jew and Gentile. Then when you move ahead a little bit in chapter 3 to verse 29, we find He's the God of the Jews, He's the God of the Gentiles also. So all are sinners but all have the same God to whom they can turn for salvation. You find that when you get to chapter 5, verse 12, death passed on all men, Jew and Gentile, all have sinned, in verse 12. Verse 15, again, so as the offense, that is that all have sinned, so is the free gift. By the offense many are dead, by the grace of God, by Jesus Christ many can receive the gospel. It abounds unto many. Verse 17, by one man's offense death reigned, and then again, righteousness reigns for the many who believe.
And he follows that same thinking through the end of the chapter. And again, bringing Jew and Gentile together in a gospel intended for the whole world. Chapter 9, of course, is the same thing exactly, verse 24, "Even us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." And then he goes on to talk about that in verse 25, "I will call them My people who were not My people, and her beloved who was not beloved," again a reference to Gentiles who enter into the saving covenant. Verse 30, the Gentiles who followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness. So, Gentile conversion is a major theme all through this. You find it in verse 12 of chapter 10, there's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call on Him. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You find it in chapter 11 and verse 11 again, through their fall, the fall of the Jews, salvation is come to the Gentiles. You find it even down in verse 25, the fullness of the Gentiles is coming as well as the salvation of Israel. Now, that's just a quick run to let you know that this is not something new. Romans began with the whole world in sin. It ends with the whole world in terms of the saved world, Jew and Gentile brought together in unity in Christ. We see both Jew and Gentile in sin. Then we see both Jew and Gentile in Christ. And that's the flow of this glorious epistle.
So, Romans, then, is a declaration of the sovereign act of God to save both Jew and Gentile. The Jew is a transgressor of written law. The Gentile is a transgressor of the law in his heart, conscience. And so, in verses 8 to 12, follow. We're going to look at it just briefly because it's just a series of Old Testament quotes. We find here the proof of Gentile equality in salvation. Verse 8, "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." Do you see it?
Jesus was a servant of the circumcision. That is He came as a Jew. A servant sent to the Jews could be its meaning, or a servant circumcised himself, for He was circumcised as a child and identified in a true way with the sign of the covenant which was physical circumcision. He comes as a Jew, circumcised as a Jew, He comes to Jews. He even said "I am come (initially) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He came then as a servant of the circumcision. I prefer to translate that a servant sent to the Jews. But it's obvious He was a Jew so He is a circumcised Jew sent to the Jews for the purpose of the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers. Do you see that? He came then to fulfill prophecy; that's what it's saying. If Jesus hadn't come to fulfill the promises made to the fathers, then God would not be true, God would be a liar.
Who were the fathers? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God in giving the Abrahamic covenant to Abraham and reiterating it to Isaac, reiterating it to Jacob, you can follow it starting in Genesis 12 all the way on through the life of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God reiterates the covenant of salvation, the covenant of salvation, the covenant of salvation. He promises there will come a great deliverer, there will come one who will enact that covenant. And Christ came as the perfect minister of the Jews to fulfill those promises made to the fathers, made by God. So the truth of God is at stake. The truth of God is at stake. He came then, now note it, for the truth of God. Why did He come to the Jews? To verify God's Word. Now keep that in mind, that's an emphasis you want to maintain. He came to verify God's Word to them. And when Jesus came, in Matthew chapter 5, He said He came to fulfill the law, didn't He? He came to fulfill the law. "I have not come," Matthew 5:17, "to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill the law. And not one jot or tittle will be removed till it's all fulfilled."
He fulfilled the law by coming as the law said, to save. He fulfilled the law by upholding its sacredness and reestablishing its truth. He came and fulfilled the law by keeping it perfectly. He fulfilled the law every way possible but what Paul is saying here is when He came He verified the promise of God. Thus, He came for the sake of the truth of God. He came to verify that God speaks the truth. What a wonderful reason to come. Now that's to the glory of God, see. That's to the glory of God.
You say, "I thought He came just to save me." No, He came to prove God true, to prove God true, to confirm the covenant, to ratify the covenant that God had originally given, which He ratified with His own blood. When...when Mary knew about the child, she cries out in her Magnificat in Luke 1 and says this, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and then she ends this by saying, "As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever." In other words, God is doing what He told Abraham He would do. That's a glorious thing, glorious thing.
Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, hearing of the birth of His own child, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, He has raised up a horn of salvation for us and the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets." You see, Christ comes for the sake of the truth of God so that God cannot be thought a liar. So when Israel praises God, they praise God because Christ came and verified His truth.
But look at the Gentiles in verse 9. "And the Gentiles, they might glorify God not for His truth but for His (What?) His mercy." Certainly the Jews are thankful for mercy and certainly the Gentiles are thankful for truth. But the emphasis here is that Christ came to show to the Jews the truth of God and He came to show to the Gentiles the mercy of God. That was the emphasis. He was a minister of the circumcision to show them the truth of God and to show the Gentiles the mercy of God. And so, a saved Jew will primarily praise God for His truth, He made a promise and He kept it. And the saved Gentile primarily praises God for His mercy, for He gives mercy to a non-deserving, a no-people, a people outside the covenant, outside the promise, outside the fathers, outside the line of Messiah.
And so, you take the saved Jew, praising God for His truth, the saved Gentile, praising God for His mercy, and you blend them together with one mind and one voice and they both glorify God.
The emphasis may differ. Covenant promise is important to Israel. Mercy to a non-covenant people is important to the Gentiles. But both glorify God, both rejoice that they are included in the plan of God. Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto me all the ends of the earth." Isaiah 52:10, "All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."
And so, both rejoice. And to show the promise of Gentile salvation and further encourage the Jew to accept the Gentile, Paul gives these four Old Testament quotes. And I'm just going to give them to you. Verse 10...I'm sorry, verse 9, "As it is written," and here he quotes Psalm 18:49. It's also quoted, by the way, in 2 Samuel 22:50, the same verse. Here's Psalm 18:49, or 2 Samuel 22:50, "For this cause I will confess to Thee among the nations and sing unto Thy name." The Psalmist says, I will declare God's name among the nations. The word "confess" means to acknowledge God. He says in the middle of the nations, I will acknowledge God, I will sing unto Thy name. So, David, who is in view here, the Psalmist, is singing the praise of God among the nations, an allusion to Gentile salvation.
Then in verse 10 he quotes Deuteronomy 32:43: "And again he saith." And by the way, "He saith" is a wonderful reference to God, and even though it's a quote from the writing of Moses, God said it and this is another one of those subtle indications or not so subtle indications of inspiration, divine inspiration. And again the Lord, or God says, "Rejoice ye nations (Watch this.) with His people." So all the way back in the writing of Moses, isn't that wonderful? Deuteronomy 32, the last part of Moses' writing, the first set of books in the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, the Gentiles rejoice along with the Jews. They join in offering praise. The first scripture, the Psalmist in the midst of the Gentiles offering praise, now the Gentiles join the Jews in offering praise. The third scripture, verse 11, and "again praise the Lord all ye nations and laud Him all ye peoples," and here the nations are doing it alone. First the Psalmist did it, then the nations did it with the Jews and now they're seen doing it alone. That's quoted out of Psalm 1:17 verse 1, Psalm 1:17 verse 1. "Praise the Lord all ye nations and laud Him all ye peoples."
Then in verse 12, the final scripture, and again Isaiah said, "There shall be a root of Jesse." That is something that comes out of the stock of Jesse, out of the Davidic line, "and he that shall rise to reign over the nations, in Him shall the nations trust." That is taken right out of Isaiah 11 verses 1 and 10. He quotes Isaiah the prophet, who said there would be a root of Jesse, that is the Davidic line, Jesse being the father of David, the son of Obed, the father of David the king from whose loins, of course, came the Messiah. So there would come a root of Jesse, the Davidic line, and one would rise, that is rise out of humiliation, rise to reign over the nations. Messiah will rule the world. He'll reign over the nations. But not just over the nations with a rod of iron. "For in Him shall the nations hope," is the proper text. They'll hope in Him, again, a promise of Gentile salvation. Salvation is hope. Salvation is hope. This is a saving hope. So the nations will hope in the Messiah.
You see the plan of God? The Jews rejoicing over God keeping truth in Christ. The Gentiles rejoice over God showing mercy in Christ. The Old Testament all along said that the Gentiles would be saved, that the Gentiles would praise and rejoice with God's people, Israel, that the Gentiles would hope in the Messiah to come. And we ought to embrace them and each the other. All are loved by God. The Gentiles, you see, can have no grudge against the Jews because through the Jews the salvation came to them. The Jews can have no grudge against the Gentiles because their very purpose for existence was to reach the Gentiles. So Jew and Gentile are consummately blended together.
And Paul closes with a benedictory intercession. And I always feel like I'm treading on sacred ground when I try to explain a benediction. All you need to do is read it. "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." That really is the summation of the whole epistle. It's a benediction to wrap up everything. And it's a prayer. The God of hope, the God who is the source of eternal hope, the source of eternal life, the source of eternal salvation, fill you up, leaving nothing out. Literally overflow you with joy and peace that comes in believing, that you may super abound in hope through the agency of the power of the Spirit of God. In other words, that's another way of saying, may you get all there is to get and may you know all the joy and all the peace and all the hope that can possibly be given to you through believing in Christ by the power of the Spirit of God.
You know what that's calling for? You know what his benediction really is? May you be totally spiritually satisfied. May you be totally spiritually satisfied, filled with joy and filled with peace and filled with hope to overflowing. That's what salvation was intended to bring. It's a prayer for a satisfied soul which is to sweep back through the whole epistle, may you know forgiveness, may you know peace, may you know hope, may you know love, may you know victory over sin, may you know the power of the Spirit of God, may you know the obedience of a spiritual life, may you know the use of your spiritual gift, may you know a right relationship to people, a right relationship to government, may you know the love, may you know the sense of urgency, may you know how to care for each other as weak and strong, may you know all that God could possibly overflow to you in the power of the Spirit and thus be a fully satisfied believer. His prayer, his benediction is that we might be fully satisfied in Christ.
Father, that's our prayer, that we might be satisfied, that we might have nothing lacking who need to have nothing lacking in Jesus Christ. We pray in His blessed name. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.


text:
Holser, Ronald |
Submitted to: American Chemical Society National Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 12/17/2010 Publication Date: 3/27/2011 Citation: Holser, R.A. 2011. Thermal properties of encapsulated polyunsaturated fatty acid esters [abstract]. American Chemical Society National Meeting. 2011 CDROM. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Solid lipid particles were prepared to inhibit the degradation of polyunsaturated lipids used in food and feed formulations. Encapsulation with solid lipid particles can provide a physical barrier to limit the mass transfer of prooxidant compounds and by the appropriate selection of lipid particle composition also present an energy barrier. The ability of saturated and monounsaturated medium chain length triglycerides to stabilize the polyunsaturated lipids linolenate and docosahexaenate were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Reversible and irreversible changes were detected by operating the calorimeter with a small temperature oscillation superimposed on the temperature ramp (modulated-DSC). The structure and position of the fatty acid components of the triglycerides exhibited a strong influence on melting point, heats of fusion, and crystallinity. These results will be useful in the selection of triglycerides to encapsulate bioactive lipids formulated into foods and animal feeds. |


text:
Benko Products, Inc. announces that its Sahara Hot Room Model S24 quickly melts hard-to-melt material in drums or totes, without degrading the product. The S24 heats 24 drums on pallets or six totes with saturated steam, hot oil or hot water up to 200 psig. The heating capability of each room is designed based on the customers' needs. The rooms are fully insulated and features steel construction, built-in spill containment and is portable - just pick up with a forklift. The oven is shipped completely assembled and tested for easy installation. Options include air circulation, exhaust capabilities, precise state-of-the-art digital temperature control with overtemp protection and an outdoor use package.
Benko Products, Inc.


text:
Die MARINA Schwimmbadprodukte sind auf facebook
Please note that Marina Piscine has updated its Privacy Policy. By visiting our website or using services provided by Marina Piscine, you are accepting the practices described in the Privacy Policy. We also use cookies our websites. Cookies allow us to give you the best browsing experience and help us to understand how you use our site. You can disable cookies but parts of our website may not work. Please read our updated Cookies Policy for information about which cookies we use and the information we collect. By continuing to use this website, you agree that we may store and access cookies on your device. By clicking "I Accept", you confirm that you are above the age of 16, that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy and the Cookies Policy, and that you agree to the collection, use and processing of your Personal Information by Marina Piscine in accordance with said policies.
I accept


text:
Synology DS214Se 'Special Edition' 2-bay NAS Review
Chris Hadley / 10 years ago
Synology have been hot on the market recently with the release of the DS414 4-bay NAS – the latest revision to their popular 4-bay desktop range as it replaces the top-selling DS413. One of the main focus points of the DS414 is the price point for a pretty good level of performance. As we saw it may not be the fastest 4-bay system available, but when it's priced considerably lower (>£100) than some of its rival units, it's a bit of a no-brainer for anyone who is focussing more on raw capacity over performance.
Keeping on the same line, every NAS vendor has a few budget units in their product catalogue, however Synology have a more equal distribution across their range in the terms of performance and cost. As a brand Synology are not afraid to advertise that they build cheaper systems that offer lower performance figures and there is a good reason for this. When you take into account the overall cost of a typical 2 or 4-bay system with the cost of hard drives on top can easily tip over the £500 mark (or more if you go far a higher performance system); that price tag for some people does equate to a substantial chunk of money. For a number of users, the cost is simply too much to churn out. Typically those fighting the battle of cost is the home user, especially with today's credit crunch here in the UK – where the cost of living when marked against your income is a bit out of proportion. As a result the goal is to get as much raw capacity as possible and for as little as possible.
As we've seen before, Synology use a simple naming system for their products, and those ending with a 'j' are built with capacity over performance in mind. To take things a step further, Synology have now re-written the rule book as they create a 2-bay system that is more budget conscious than ever. Bring forth the DS214Se. In the same way that the DS414 is the successor the DS413, the DS214 is the new model to the DS213 and the Se (Special Edition) marking puts this model in a position where it is even more budget friendly than before.
With the aim of the game keeping the overall purchase cost down, Synology have removed a number of features from the DS214 specification and have been more ruthless than ever. As a result, the DS214Se is going to be ideal for anyone who is a) on a very tight and b) not needing to run multiple features at the same time.
Whilst the systems specification has been cut down, the bundled extras include everything that you'll ever need. Alongside the NAS, there is an AC power adaptor, Ethernet cable, a quick installation guide, warranty leaflet, and finally two sets of screws for fitting the drives and for holding the enclosure together.


text:
On-Site Surgery in Colorado
DENVER — The Colorado Department of Corrections now has one of the few ambulatory surgical centers in the country that is within the secured perimeter of a correctional facility. The $2.8 million facility recently opened on the state grounds of the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Unit — an inmate intake facility with an infirmary where acutely ill or post-surgery inmates are managed.
The state of Colorado issued a RFP in late 2010 for a design-build-finance proposal for a 3,370-square-foot ambulatory surgical suite and received several bids for the project.
The design and construction focused around convenience, efficiency and safety. HMC Colorado Contracting, LLC, an affiliate of Hale-Mills Construction, Ltd. worked on the project alongside Phoenix, Ariz.-based architectural firm, Arrington Watkins Architects. Municipal Capital Markets Group, Inc. financed the transaction.
"The state of Colorado didn't have the money up-front to build this facility but they did have the ability to make payments over a period of time derived from the savings that will be achieved as a result of not having to transport inmates out of the system for medical procedures," said Eric Cohen, Vice President of Hale-Mills Construction, Ltd.
The design and construction of the new surgical unit provided the state with two major benefits — public protection and future financial savings. The construction was the first modular project for HMC Colorado Contracting, LLC, an affiliate of Hale-Mills Construction, Ltd., and was designed to be more convenient and efficient for both the construction teams as well as the state of Colorado.
"The modular construction helped with the cost and we didn't need it to be typical hard-construction like you'd need if you were building a prison. The modular building worked very well and it made the project cost efficient and was completed in a shorter period of time," said Joanie Shoemaker, Deputy Director of Prisons in Colorado.
The construction took less than four months to complete — including the transportation of the modular units from Indiana to Colorado. The units were constructed and fabricated in four separate parts by Williams Scotsman based in Indianapolis, Ind. and then transported to Colorado to be completed by HMC Colorado Contracting, LLC.
Although constructing a facility off-site wasn't ideal for Sean Butler, Vice President of Hale-Mills Construction, Ltd., it provided its benefits as well.
"As a contractor I prefer to have control over a project from ground up, on site you can control it a little bit better. From a modular standpoint, once the buildings got there we finished the project within a month. So, from that aspect once it got there it really facilitated completing the project very quickly," said Butler.
The new surgical unit will accommodate 6-8 surgeries a day once the facility is inspected again by the health department and the appropriate licenses are obtained. Shoemaker estimates the facility should be open for operations within the next month.
The surgical unit is a unique concept and according to Shoemaker only two other states have surgical units set up within the confines of a correctional facility. Florida has had a building dedicated to inmate surgical procedures for a number of years and Georgia has a semi-trailer unit used for inmate procedures, according to Shoemaker. Colorado was focused more on bringing in an actual building within the secure environment in order to accommodate more surgeries for patients.
"We wanted our surgical unit to be a standing building. We needed to have solid floor in order to perform any eye surgeries — with the building now we are able to give inmates eye surgeries on-site," said Shoemaker.
The main diagnostic center for inmates is adjacent to the new surgical unit and can hold nearly 1,000 inmates who are waiting to get prepped for surgery or in a recovery room waiting to be healthy enough to enter back into their housing unit. The convenience of having the surgical center in such close proximity was extremely important to Shoemaker and the people of Colorado.
"What this does is puts inmate healthcare behind the secure perimeter of the facility and really promotes public protection here in Colorado," said Shoemaker.
Since the surgical center is located on the grounds of a correctional facility there will be a correctional officer on-site and the same strict security measures will apply.
Creating the surgical unit helped save transporting costs of inmates to and from contracted hospitals around the state and also is extremely beneficial to public safety to keep inmates on the grounds of the correctional facility.
"It was cost and convenience driven. It makes a lot more sense for them security wise to not have to take these folks outside of a secure environment," said Butler.


text:
It's all about her...
Are you in need of inspiration for what to gift the woman in your life? When you ask her she just replies with 'you don't have to get me anything!' Not very helpful… Let us give you a helping hand…
If she has a serious love for anything sweet, we have Personalised Chocolate Bars, or boxes of novelty heel-heeled, handbag or cupcake-shaped chocolate which make up the Girls' Night In Chocolate Box. If she's more of a fan of sweets, we have Personalised Jelly Beans, a Retro Sweet Hamper or humorously-labelled mint imperials.
Alternatively, if she likes to spend time in the garden, opt for the Funky Veg Kit, V&A Garden Tool Set, Grow It: Olives Gift Box or Chocolate Scented Flowers.
Give her something to pamper herself with as she soaks in a Chocolate Bath Box Gift Set, before using her Personalised Manicure Set to transform her nails. And what goes better with an indulgent night than a lovely bottle of wine complete with a label with her name on it? Drink it out of champagne flutes or wine glasses with the occasion engraved on to it.
Perhaps she's recently moved house and is looking for some artwork? Check out our prints, frames, glass tokens and hanging slate signs, each boasting designs that she will proudly hang on her wall.
If none of that suits, then how about gifting her with survival guides helping her to cope with ordeals like getting older, training the dog, or making sure her garden thrives.
There is no stone left unturned in regard to our range of gifts. You'll find the perfect present for her, no matter what the occasion.


text:
Irish singer Imelda May has called on Ireland's Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to place a ban on the industry of fur farms in Ireland, to move the country into line with laws in the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland.
There are five mink farms in Ireland and, according to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Ireland's farms account for 70 percent all fur farms in Europe.
May wrote an open letter to Coveney saying, "Fur farming is a shameful, cruel industry that simply has no place in modern Ireland.
"Almost a quarter-million minks are condemned to a life of suffering on Irish fur farms."
She continued, "This barbaric cruelty is unacceptable in a civilized, progressive country. Ireland needs to stop dragging its feet. Regulating the industry is not enough – please make Irish people proud and enact an immediate ban."
PETA spokesperson Ben Williamson told the Irish Independent, "The Irish Government has shown itself to be out of touch by failing to relegate the five remaining Irish mink farms to the history books.
"Imelda represents the views of the majority of Irish people . . . and we hope that her involvement in this campaign will cause the Government to sit up and pay attention."
On the PETA UK blog the group outlines their arguments for shutting down Ireland's fur farms. Here are just some of their points:
- Banning fur farming in Ireland would save 225,000 mink each year from being imprisoned, abused and slaughtered.
- Minks are naturally solitary. Being kept in a small filthy cage, where they are in full view of, or surrounded by, other animals at all times, is horrifically stressful for them and often drives them insane.
- Fur farming is illegal in Northern Ireland. Austria, the Netherlands, the U.K. and other progressive European countries have already banned fur farms.
- In the wild, mink always live near water and love swimming and diving. On fur farms, they are never even let out of their tiny cages to exercise and have no opportunity to fulfill any of their natural behavior.
- A European Commission report about animals on fur farms found that "the typical mink cage with a nest box and wire mesh floor impairs mink welfare because it does not provide for important needs".
- Fur farms in Ireland have created only approximately 60 jobs but causes hundreds of thousands of animals immense suffering every single day of their lives.
- Fur farming is opposed by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and by hundreds of thousands of compassionate people in Ireland and beyond.
- Mink on fur farms are killed when they're around 6 months old, having been confined for their entire lives. The frightened animals are yanked from their cages, shoved into a box filled with the bodies of up to 70 other dead and dying animals and gassed with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
- A recent study found that real fur is much worse for the environment than humane faux fur, partly because of the toxic waste produced by factory farms. The climate-change impact of mink fur turned out to be five times greater than that of textiles.


text:
It's a mark of the difficulty of translating Dickens' epic novel to the stage that a full-length adaptation of 'Great Expectations' has never been seen in the West End before.
Set entirely in bitter spinster Miss Havisham's mouldering drawing-room, Scottish dramatist Jo Clifford's version was originally developed with the Glasgow-based theatre company TAG in 1988, and has been seen all over the world in various guises.
This particular production also toured the UK last year before landing at the Vaudeville – but the show's arrival in London is still a landmark in the stage history of Dickens adaptations.
It's a shame, then, that it proves so disappointing. Director Graham McLaren, an associate director for the National Theatre of Scotland, has apparently chosen to anchor the production in the theatrical style of Dickens' own time.
At least, that's the only explanation I can think of for the hammy acting (think Laurence Olivier on downers), Hammer horror-style touches (Miss Havisham looming like an apparition from the fireplace; Jaggers appearing, zombie-like, from a hole in the back of the set) and crummy sound effects.
Then there's the design, which is more Halloween party than gothic splendour. Every spare inch of the stage is covered in dry ice and fake cobwebs, including the costumes, and the actors' faces are painted chalk-white, like eighteenth-century courtesans.
Clifford has had a brave stab at paring back Dickens' sprawling novel to fit a two-hour show, but the dialogue is stilted and the pace uneven: by the interval, young hero Pip hasn't even reached London. Some of the performers manage to rise above the overall hamminess – notably, Josh Elwell as Joe Gargery – but this 'Great Expectations' is more pantomime than high drama. Laura Barnett


text:
Parshat Va'etchanan
Although Moshe is content that Yehoshua will lead the nation, Moshe nevertheless prays to enter the Land of Israel in order to fulfill its special mitzvot. Hashem refuses. Moshe reminds Bnei Yisrael of the gathering at Sinai when they received the Torah that they saw no visual representation of the Divine, but only the sound of words. Moshe impresses on Bnei Yisrael that the Sinai revelation took place before an entire nation, not to a select elite, and that only the Jews will ever claim that Hashem spoke to their entire nation. Moshe specifically enjoins Bnei Yisrael to "pass over" the Sinai event to their children throughout all generations.
Moshe predicts, accurately, that when Bnei Yisrael dwell in Eretz Yisrael they will sin and be scattered among all the peoples. They will stay few in number but will eventually return to Hashem.
Moshe designates three "refuge cities" to which an inadvertent killer may flee. Moshe repeats the 10 Commandments and then teaches the Shema, the central credo of Judaism, that there is only One G-d. Moshe warns the people not to succumb to materialism and thus forget their purpose as a spiritual nation. The parsha ends with Moshe exhorting Bnei Yisrael not to intermarry when they enter Eretz Yisrael, as they cannot be a treasured and holy nation if they intermarry, and they will become indistinguishable from the other nations.
How to win people and influence friends
"My L-rd, G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness…" (3:23)
After the Second World War, there was a certain town in which most of the brides were orphaned during the holocaust. The townspeople decided to bring in a famous and gifted lecturer to inspire the young brides with the importance of family purity.
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, zatzal, told them that this was not the right way to achieve their purpose: He pointed out that those who were currently uninterested in family purity would be the least likely to attend; the speaker would end up "preaching only to the converted".
Instead, he suggested that they use the money to start a bridal fund to assist young brides with their wedding expenses, and through this kindness the brides would be receptive to the message of family purity.
The people of the town disagreed with Rabbi Wolbe and so he went to the Gadol Hador, the Chazon Ish who concurred with his advice.
"My L-rd, G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness…"
This week's parsha starts with Moshe imploring G-d to let him enter the Land of Israel. Ostensibly, why should Moshe appeal to G-d's greatness when asking for his request to be granted? Wouldn't it have been better to appeal to G-d's kindness? Rashi explains that G-d's greatness is expressed by His kindness.
Man is created in G-d's image, meaning that just as G-d is kind, so we must be kind; and just as His greatness is expressed through kindness, so will be ours.
True greatness is kindness.
Avraham Avinu was the first person to recognize G-d in the world. In the silent prayer, G-d's greatness is linked to Him being "the G-d of Avraham." Avraham is also the personification of kindness. It was through Avraham's belief in G-d, that he realized the greatness of kindness. At that time, the prevalent view of the idol worshippers was that even if there was a god, he was far too lofty to be bothered or be interested in this world and its happenings.
Avraham established an inn where he cared for his guests in every conceivable way. He influenced the world to believe in G-d, not by logical proofs or lectures but by demonstrating through his own example that G-d's kindness extends down through all the worlds to this, the lowliest.


text:
There is a good chance that you are still wiped out from the recent NY Comic Con (and I know that I am). If this is how you are feeling then there is nothing better than relaxing in front of the television watching some awesome shows. Thanks to the programming on The CW Network, my DVR is working overtime and now its time to welcome back "Riverdale" which begins its own third season tonight. Check out the dramatic poster along with some premise and casting. I'll close out with some additional opinion.
The Premise: The series follows Archie Andrews' life in the small town of Riverdale and explores the darkness hidden behind its seemingly perfect image.
Continue reading Tonight: "Riverdale" Season 3 Premiere on The CW (10/10/2018)


text:
PENSACOLA, Florida - Florida's Pensacola Christian College recently received a major audio upgrade to its 6,200-seat Crowne Centre auditorium with two HARMAN Studer Vista 9(tm) digital audio consoles, nine BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-160 signal processors and five BLU-BIB break-in boxes. Architecturally striking with its tall, jewel-like faceted glass front sections and ultramodern curved interior featuring a 110-foot rotating stage and dual wedding chapels, the Crowne Centre is used for services, concerts, weddings and special events.
The Crowne Centre was built in 2001 but the sound system recently began showing its age. The auditorium is used almost daily, and while it proved very reliable overall, after 11 years of constant use the mixing console and other components began to exhibit failures and glitches. Commercial audio contractor All Pro Sound was chosen to bring the audio system back to the high-quality standards required by the college.
"We didn't just want this to be a glorified repair job-we wanted the system to be more powerful and user-friendly, to be future-proof and to provide many years of reliable service," said John Fuqua, Vice President, All Pro Sound. "We have worked with Pensacola Christian College for over 25 years and have a great understanding of their expectations for quality and function. As the original system designer and installer, All Pro Sound was able to provide a comprehensive plan that met both function and timeline."
"The Studer Vista 9 is a significant upgrade from the previous console," Fuqua stated. "We chose it for its large input and output capability, its flexible configurability and its superior sonic quality."
The Crowne Centre uses two Vista 9 consoles for front of house and in the broadcast suite. Both have 42-fader mixing surfaces and are running a total of 212 inputs with 32 main outs, 48 matrix sends and 32 aux sends. The broadcast console is programmed for dynamic automation, which is required for remixing the musical portions of the church services and concert events.
"The Studer Vista 9 fits this installation perfectly," Fuqua continued. "We needed consoles that could handle both live sound and broadcast mixing needs, and the Vista 9 is versatile enough to be optimized for both applications. It makes life much easier to have the same brand and model of console, especially since both are networked together."
The inter-compatibility of the two consoles and the BSS Audio Soundweb London components was an especially crucial-and practical-aspect considering the time frame Fuqua was under. "We had a 3-week window to remove the old gear, change all the system programming, pull all-new fiber optic cable between locations and take delivery of, install and program a large Studer mixing system. We started the process with Studer engineers in early March for the install date to begin on May 25, so we could be completed by June 15. This was, at best, very tight for the Studer system to be built, tested and shipped to the site. We took delivery of the first Vista 9 on June 1 and the second on June 4."
"The fact that the Studer and BSS Audio components are literally made for each other was a tremendous advantage in ensuring we did not go over deadline," Fuqua added. "The system uses HiQnet(tm) London Architect programming interface and its drag-and-drop functionality really sped up the configuration process. Our lead systems designer Dennis Ryan created a custom GUI that allows for complete function control and monitoring for all types of events held in the Crowne Centre. The wide variety of signal processing options provided by the Soundweb London BLU-160 enabled us to precisely optimize the sound and performance of the system."
"The Crowne Centre staff is extremely pleased with the sound quality and more intuitive user interface of the Vista 9 and the capabilities of the entire system," Fuqua concluded. "The sound quality of the new BSS Audio Soundweb London components coupled with the Vista 9 consoles was evident from the first sound checks."
For more information on All Pro Sound please visit www.allprosound.com.


text:
Despite the varied theories espoused by many establishment economists, it was none other than the Federal Reserve that caused the Great Depression and the horrific suffering, deprivation and dislocation America and the world experienced in its wake. At least, that's the clearly stated view of current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The worldwide economic downturn called the Great Depression, which persisted from 1929 until about 1939, was the longest and worst depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. While originating in the U.S., it ended up causing drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation in virtually every country on earth. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "the Great Depression ranks second only to the Civil War as the gravest crisis in American history."
What exactly caused this economic tsunami that devastated the U.S. and much of the world?
Advertisement - story continues below
In "A Monetary History of the United States," Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman along with coauthor Anna J. Schwartz lay the mega-catastrophe of the Great Depression squarely at the feet of the Federal Reserve.
TRENDING: Team Biden 'freaking out' president is bleeding key support from Arab-Americans
Here's how Friedman summed up his views on the Fed and the Depression in an Oct. 1, 2000, interview with PBS:
PBS: You've written that what really caused the Depression was mistakes by the government. Looking back now, what in your view was the actual cause?
Advertisement - story continues below
Friedman: Well, we have to distinguish between the recession of 1929, the early stages, and the conversion of that recession into a major catastrophe.
The recession was an ordinary business cycle. We had repeated recessions over hundreds of years, but what converted [this one] into a major depression was bad monetary policy.
The Federal Reserve System had been established to prevent what actually happened. It was set up to avoid a situation in which you would have to close down banks, in which you would have a banking crisis. And yet, under the Federal Reserve System, you had the worst banking crisis in the history of the United States. There's no other example I can think of, of a government measure which produced so clearly the opposite of the results that were intended.
And what happened is that [the Federal Reserve] followed policies which led to a decline in the quantity of money by a third. For every $100 in paper money, in deposits, in cash, in currency, in existence in 1929, by the time you got to 1933 there was only about $65, $66 left. And that extraordinary collapse in the banking system, with about a third of the banks failing from beginning to end, with millions of people having their savings essentially washed out, that decline was utterly unnecessary.
At all times, the Federal Reserve had the power and the knowledge to have stopped that. And there were people at the time who were all the time urging them to do that. So it was, in my opinion, clearly a mistake of policy that led to the Great Depression.
Advertisement - story continues below
Although economists have pontificated over the decades about this or that cause of the Great Depression, even the current Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke, agrees with Friedman's assessment that the Fed caused the Great Depression.
At a Nov. 8, 2002, conference to honor Friedman's 90th birthday, Bernanke, then a Federal Reserve governor, gave a speech at Friedman's old home base, the University of Chicago. Here's a bit of what Bernanke, the man who now runs the Fed – and thus, one of the most powerful people in the world – had to say that day:
I can think of no greater honor than being invited to speak on the occasion of Milton Friedman's ninetieth birthday. Among economic scholars, Friedman has no peer. …
Today I'd like to honor Milton Friedman by talking about one of his greatest contributions to economics, made in close collaboration with his distinguished coauthor, Anna J. Schwartz. This achievement is nothing less than to provide what has become the leading and most persuasive explanation of the worst economic disaster in American history, the onset of the Great Depression – or, as Friedman and Schwartz dubbed it, the Great Contraction of 1929-33.
Advertisement - story continues below
… As everyone here knows, in their "Monetary History" Friedman and Schwartz made the case that the economic collapse of 1929-33 was the product of the nation's monetary mechanism gone wrong. Contradicting the received wisdom at the time that they wrote, which held that money was a passive player in the events of the 1930s, Friedman and Schwartz argued that "the contraction is in fact a tragic testimonial to the importance of monetary forces."
After citing how Friedman and Schwartz documented the Fed's continual contraction of the money supply during the Depression and its aftermath – and the subsequent abandonment of the gold standard by many nations in order to stop the devastating monetary contraction – Bernanke adds:
Before the creation of the Federal Reserve, Friedman and Schwartz noted, bank panics were typically handled by banks themselves – for example, through urban consortiums of private banks called clearinghouses. If a run on one or more banks in a city began, the clearinghouse might declare a suspension of payments, meaning that, temporarily, deposits would not be convertible into cash. Larger, stronger banks would then take the lead, first, in determining that the banks under attack were in fact fundamentally solvent, and second, in lending cash to those banks that needed to meet withdrawals. Though not an entirely satisfactory solution – the suspension of payments for several weeks was a significant hardship for the public – the system of suspension of payments usually prevented local banking panics from spreading or persisting. Large, solvent banks had an incentive to participate in curing panics because they knew that an unchecked panic might ultimately threaten their own deposits.
It was in large part to improve the management of banking panics that the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. However, as Friedman and Schwartz discuss in some detail, in the early 1930s the Federal Reserve did not serve that function. The problem within the Fed was largely doctrinal: Fed officials appeared to subscribe to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's infamous 'liquidationist' thesis, that weeding out "weak" banks was a harsh but necessary prerequisite to the recovery of the banking system. Moreover, most of the failing banks were small banks (as opposed to what we would now call money-center banks) and not members of the Federal Reserve System. Thus the Fed saw no particular need to try to stem the panics. At the same time, the large banks – which would have intervened before the founding of the Fed – felt that protecting their smaller brethren was no longer their responsibility. Indeed, since the large banks felt confident that the Fed would protect them if necessary, the weeding out of small competitors was a positive good, from their point of view.
Advertisement - story continues below
In short, according to Friedman and Schwartz, because of institutional changes and misguided doctrines, the banking panics of the Great Contraction were much more severe and widespread than would have normally occurred during a downturn. …
Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.
Best wishes for your next ninety years.
Today, the entire Western financial world holds its breath every time the Fed chairman speaks, so influential are the central bank's decisions on markets, interest rates and the economy in general. Yet the Fed, supposedly created to smooth out business cycles and prevent disruptive economic downswings like the Great Depression, has actually done the opposite.


text:
AMSTERDAM (REUTERS) - Philips Electronics is selling its audio and video business to Japan's Funai Electric Co in a deal that almost completes its exit from consumer electronics to focus on more profitable home appliances and healthcare areas.
For many years, the Dutch company was a familiar household name in Europe, thanks to its high-quality goods such as television sets, cassettes and CD players.
But it has struggled to compete with lower-cost Asian manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, and has had to cut costs and sell assets over the last two years.
Philips had already hived off its ailing television business by setting up a joint venture with Hong Kong-based TPV last year.
Now the sale of its audio and video operations for 150 million euros (S$250 million) plus licence fees to Funai Electric takes the rest of the electronics out of the Philips name, apart from a small remote-control business.
With more consumers going online for music, films and games rather than buying CDs and DVDs, Philips decided to get out of home entertainment even though it was profitable last year, chief executive Frans van Houten said on Tuesday, adding that the business was shrinking and "margin dilutive".
"This completes the repositioning away from consumer electronics," Mr van Houten told Reuters Insider.
In the future, the consumer division will focus on appliances such as shavers and electric toothbrushes - two of the group's most profitable products - as well as toasters, juicers and coffee makers. It sold 10 million shavers in China alone last year, Mr van Houten said.
As well as making consumer goods, Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker and a top-three maker of hospital equipment.
Must do better
Its shares rose 2 per cent to 22.37 euros, the highest level since April 2011 when Mr van Houten became chief executive with a brief to revive the company hit weak economic growth, fragile consumer spending and government budget cuts in several markets.
Mr van Houten said that of the hundreds of businesses and markets that have been under scrutiny since he took over, roughly one-third still need to perform better, while two-thirds are doing well.
Fourth-quarter results released earlier on Tuesday showed that underlying profit improved significantly after job cuts, disposals and a focus on core businesses.
Philips reported three consecutive quarters of better-than-expected net profit in 2012, suggesting it had at last turned the corner.
According to equity analysis firm StarMine, Philips trades at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 14.4, compared with 12.5 for Siemens and 13.4 for General Electric .
But on a price-to-book ratio, it is slightly cheaper than its rivals, at 1.7, against 2.1 for Siemens and 1.8 for GE.
Analysts welcomed the Funai Electric deal as "an important divestment" that could fan hopes of further disposals in the consumer portfolio.
Mr van Houten dismissed talk of any major acquisitions, saying the firm was only interested in bolt-on deals at the moment.
Philips reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 355 million euros - widening from a year-ago loss of 160 million euros - as it cited previously flagged provisions and charges.
The group had already warned last month that it would take a provision of 509 million euros to cover a European Union fine for cartel practices in its television business, and that restructuring charges would be higher than previously estimated.
Adjusted quarterly earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (Ebita) was 875 million euros - up almost 50 per cent from a year ago and the best quarter in the past two years. Sales rose 3 per cent to 7.161 billion euros.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast adjusted Ebita of 847 million euros, a net loss of 308 million euros and sales of 7.161 billion euros.
Sales and profits rose at the healthcare division, which sells home oxygen kits, hospital scanners and ultrasound systems, and at the consumer business.
Excluding restructuring and acquisition charges, Ebita for the lighting business - which has been hit by a slowdown in the construction market - also rose from a year ago.
Philips said it was on track to achieve its end-2013 targets of sales growth of between 4 and 6 per cent, a margin on Ebita of 10 to 12 per cent and a return on invested capital of 12 to 14 per cent.


text:
Todd Hollenshead Departs Id Software
Since 1996, Todd Hollenshead has been the man at the top of Id Software. Today, that era comes to a close.
IGN has reported, and Bethesda has confirmed, that Hollenshead has left the company. Hollenshead served as Id's CEO until the company was purchased by Zenimax in 2009, at which point his title was changed to president.
Doom 4, the studio's current project, has been under development for some time. At QuakeCon last year, company co-founder John Carmack stated that the game would be done when it's done, but that work was still underway.
[Source: IGN]